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Did you time your inseminations using OPKs or the ovacue?

September 3, 2013 at 5:07 pmI got a positive OPK yesterday morning around 10am. My donor sperm arrived this morning and I did my first insem at 1130 so a little over 24 hours after positive OPK. My ovacue says I'm most fertile today but my OPK says today is ovulation day which could be both but my problem is I can do one more insem and I'm not sure if I should do it tonight based off of OPK or wait until tomorrow since my ovacue will most likely give me a possible fertile day then a pink day. I'm so confused on timing them.

September 3, 2013 at 7:13 pmI am doing one vial only of ICI or IUI. Midwives are doing my inseminations and I am not on any meds. They told me if I am using 2 vials I should do it the DAY the OPK turns and the next day. If I am only using one vial (which I am) I should do it the day after the OPK turns. Personally my ovacue data seems to always predict ovulation (using the oral monitor) a few days before I would actually O. I have the vaginal monitor too and every month I would get the pink and then the purple box (which means the monitor would think I had O'ed on the day it predicted because it would see a vaginal rise... but based on my EWCM I would KNOW I hadn't ovulated... and then usually on the 4th day of EWCM I would see a second vaginal rise, and this would get the purple box. Usually my OPK would turn the day before my purple box. So I started to use the ovagraph ovulation prediction as an indicator to start doing OPKs (also my EWCM is very obvious and always at least 4 days). I then use the vaginal sensor to confirm ovulation.

Anyway I have gone on and on, but your question is about when to do your insemination (are you doing at home ICI, or doing into a doctor's office?) I would do the second insemination probably 18-24 hrs after the first. It's a tough call especially if it's completely up to you ( I did three at home ICI's and then started going to the midwives to get it "on the record" for my insurance in case I need IVF...in a way its easier that the midwives just tell me when they will inseminate, haha.)

What have you been told about how long donor sperm are motile?

good luck to you! This cycle my OPK turned on Sunday, I had an ICI on Monday and now I am headed into that TWW! :)

September 3, 2013 at 8:55 pmThanks so much for the help. I haven't had many cycles where I have used both the ovacue and the OPKs so I'm just so confused on how they will match up. I wish I could find a midwife to help with Insems. I did have my obgyn doing it for a while and had an RE but it all got so expensive so we decided to do a couple months at home. I was told that frozen sperm will typically live for 12 hours after insem. I have heard that sometimes they live as long as 24 but I was told to o my Insems 12 hours apart and I never have very much cm so its hard to go by that. Well sounds like your timing was great! Good luck! I hope your tww goes quickly and you get your BFP!

September 4, 2013 at 5:40 amI know - it's so confusing and expensive!!Not to mention all the charting can be a pain sometimes.

At home insems are just as good I think... the only reason I am going to the midwives is to document a need for IVF. I am in a same sex marriage, so doing insems at home there is no proof that I actually did them (or did them "right") and I need to document 6 months of trying to qualify for IVF - which I hope I don't need.

Good luck to you - my partner got pregnant on the FIRST TRY with one vial of frozen donor sperm - so it's definitely possible to have a good result at home! When doing them at home we used preseed and also inserted an instead (both for my partner's successful attempt and then my three unsucessful tries... )

September 4, 2013 at 8:45 amWith a positive OPK on CD 12, followed by your lowest vaginal reading on CD 13. . .those are matching up wonderfully! When you receive a positive OPK, ovulation can be anywhere from 12-48 hours out. . and it can even vary from that. Timing the IUI on the day of the positive OPK and the day after is great to ensure you have the semen there and waiting!

September 7, 2013 at 4:27 amWe did ICI (intracervical) at home, I don't think you can do IUI (intrauterine) at home, even w/ washed sperm I don't think it's advised to go into the uterus if you aren't a medical professional. But I could be wrong.

I have heard IUI has a slightly higher success rate but even when I do into the midwife clinic I mostly have done ICI there. That is because we have unwashed samples - and the midwife place informed me that their success rate w/ IUI is higher when the samples are prewashed. They CAN wash them there (for me it's an extra $100 on top of the $190 for doing the insemination), however they have looked at their data and they seem to see less motility when THEY do the washing vs when they come prewashed from the cryobank. So this past time, I opted for ICI. I have 2 more unwashed samples left and if I use those up (I will do ICI) I will buy prewashed samples so I can have IUI done.

My partner got pregnant on the 1st try using one vial of frozen sperm when we did an at home ICI (so I know ICI can work too :)) For the ICI you put it as close to the cervix as possible but not IN. We used a speculum and a small plastic syringe. We also used pre-seed and inserted a softcup/instead immediately after.

September 7, 2013 at 10:34 amAnjewellove: for an IUI you would bypass the cervix and go into the uturus. I know lots of women that have done IUIs on their own at home. I actually have a book that was put together by some women on another forum that did IUIs at home and had success and they give all the details of how to do it. If you pm me your email I will sed you a copy! :) I actually just did ICI this month as I already had the ICI vials I put the catheter into my cervix (not deep) and my dh slowly inserted the sperm. I then laid there for a bit.

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